The Power of Love - Peace UCC, Loyal OK

The Power of Love

Love is:

1. A powerful force.

2. Trustworthy. "For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, 'til death parts us."

3. A choice.

4. Commanded. "This is my commandment, that you love one another."

Mothers are awesome people. Everyone should have at least one! While not all of us can be mothers, there are some things that we can and should learn from mothers. For a few minutes we will be looking at some of those things this morning.

I love this message from a church sign: If evolution is true, how come mothers still have only two hands?

A panel of experts was asked to complete some sentences about their moms. These "experts" were kindergartners. These 6-year-olds knew that their moms loved them.

My mom is best at: "feeding the dog," "making my bed," "driving," "cleaning," "running," "riding a two-wheeler," "watering the garden."

If I had enough money, I'd buy her: "flowers," "a car," "a necklace," "a brand-new fan," "a kitten," "a diamond ring," "a big pack of bubble gum."

It makes me feel good inside when Mom says: "I love you," "good job," "dinnertime!" "You look handsome," "I'll buy you something."

My mom is as pretty as a -- "butterfly," "ballerina," "mouse," "princess," "my brothers," "goose," "gold ring," "a clean horse."

Incidentally, one of the most memorable comments from the children on Father's Day was: Daddy gets tired out from: "chasing mommy."

Norman Vincent Peale wrote that President Dwight Eisenhower described his mother as a smart and saintly lady. "Often in this job I've wished I could consult her. But she is in heaven. However, many times I have felt I knew what she would say."

One night in their farm home, Mrs. Eisenhower was playing a card game with her boys. "Now, don't get me wrong," said the former president, "it was not with those cards that have kings, queens, jacks, and spades on them. Mother was too straitlaced for that." President Eisenhower said the game they were playing was called Flinch.

"Anyway, Mother was the dealer, and she dealt me a very bad hand. I began to complain. Mother said, 'Boys, put down your cards. I want to say something, particularly to Dwight. You are in a game in your home with your mother and brothers who love you. But out in the world you will be dealt bad hands without love. Here is some advice for you boys. Take those bad hands without complaining and play them out. Ask God to help you, and you will win the important game called life." The president added, "I've tried to follow that wise advice always."

Ruth 1:1-18

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.

They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."

But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me--even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons-- would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord's hand has gone out against me!"

At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.

"Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Ruth's powerful love for God and her mother-in-law transformed her from "no status" into royalty! She was willing to give up her homeland of Moab to go to Judah. Although she was a foreigner, she became an ancestress of David and Christ.

Things were really tough at the time of this story. Anarchy and infidelity to their covenant with God characterized the times. Israel did not have a righteous king. The task of settling disputes within the community and waging battle against enemies fell to the judges whom God raised up to save His people. There was famine in "Bethlehem," Bethlehem is a Hebrew word, which means, "house of bread." Eventually God was going to bless them again, but as this book opens times were tough. Elimelech took his wife, Naomi, and their two sons to Moab. (Moab was the nation formed from the incestuous conception of Lot's elder daughter.) As most of us have learned, when we try to do things our own way instead of relying on God we get in trouble. Elimelech was soon to discover this.

Elimelech means, "my God is King"; Naomi is literally "the pleasant one." After moving Elimelech died, leaving Naomi and her two sons to fend for themselves. The boys married girls from Moab and tried to make a go of things. Ten years later the two sons died leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law with no source of income.

When Naomi heard that God was blessing Bethlehem again, she and the two girls started for Judah. She wanted to return to her people.

As they traveled Naomi - who was in deep depression and discouragement - told the two girls, Ruth and Orpah, to return to their own people. According to the custom of levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5-9; Genesis 38:8; Matthew 22:24-28), when a married brother died without leaving posterity, his brother should marry the widow (his sister-in-law) in order to raise up seed for the deceased brother. The purpose was to guarantee inheritance for the family and achieve security for the widow. Naomi was explaining that it would be absurd for the women to return with her. There was no chance of marriage because she had no sons to be their husbands; to provide sons she would first have to marry a brother of her deceased husband. Thus, Naomi was alluding to a double levirate marriage.

What would you do if you were one of the daughters-in-law? You would not have read this story, so you would not know how things were going to turn out... Ruth felt a commitment to Naomi - and in spite of what Naomi thought, I believe that Ruth had seen Naomi's God as someone she trusted.

When Roberta and I married she asked the soloist to sing the song that comes from this scripture. "Wherever thou goest, I will go..." By the time we wound up living outside Tokyo, Japan, Roberta wasn't so sure that she had picked the right song!

When Ruth married into Naomi's family, she met their God. She now willingly bound herself by oath to adopt God's laws into her heart and life.

How discouraged was Naomi?

Read verses 19-21. So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?"

"Don't call me Naomi, " she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."

"Naomi" means "Pleasant." Mara means "bitter" or "bitterness" "for I am now a woman of a sorrowful spirit."

Fortunately, God understands that the things we say and do when we are discouraged and despondent come more from our frustration than our true spirit. As discouraged as Naomi was, she did not turn her back on God. God brought the two ladies back to Judah at just the right time - harvest.

God had a plan in mind... He understood Elimelech's weakness to run off to other fields during the tough times, so He used this as a way of including Ruth in the line of royalty for King David and eventually Jesus Christ.

Isn't it comforting to know that God is still in control!

Ruth followed Naomi's instructions and wound up marrying a very rich man who took care of both of them. Never, never, never let one mistake destroy your future! Always trust God to make every situation work for good on your behalf! He can do it, and He wants to do it! God is on your team.

James Brown, Evangeline Baptist Church, Wildsville, LA, in Discoveries, Fall, 1991, Vol. 2, No. 4. writes,

There is no situation I can get into that God cannot get me out. Some years ago when I was learning to fly, my instructor told me to put the plane into a steep and extended dive. I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After a brief time the engine stalled, and the plane began to plunge out-of-control. It soon became evident that the instructor was not going to help me at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like eternity, my mind began to function again. I quickly corrected the situation.

Immediately I turned to the instructor and began to vent my fearful frustrations on him. He very calmly said to me, "There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of. If you want to learn to fly, go up there and do it again." At that moment God seemed to be saying to me, "Remember this. As you serve Me, there is no situation you can get yourself into that I cannot get you out of. If you trust me, you will be all right." That lesson has been proven true in my ministry many times over the years.

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee,

Trust Him when thy strength is small,

Trust Him when to simply trust Him

Seems the hardest thing of all.

Trust Him, He is ever faithful,

Trust Him, for His will is best,

Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus

Is the only place of rest.

-Source Unknown.

Uncle Oscar was apprehensive about his first airplane ride. His friends, eager to hear how it went, asked if he enjoyed the flight. "Well," commented Uncle Oscar, "it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but I'll tell you this. I never did put all my weight down!" Source Unknown.

Jesus loves you - so you can put all your weight on Him. His love is the mightiest power in the universe!